• Artist: Elevated
• Track: Write it Down in Blood
• Producer: Elevated (Dust and DJ Weather)
• Album: The Toby Sessions EP

Simply going by the title of Portland duo's Elevated's first Booth feature, you'd expect Write It Down in Blood to be a little... dark. And you'd be half-right – this new single is the most pleasant, head-noddable song about depression, alienation and crippling insecurity that I've ever heard. How is that even possible, you ask? Well, the mellow, bluesy piano-sampled groove (which I know I recognize from somewhere – anyone ID that sample?), co-produced by crewmates Dust and DJ Weather, serves as the spoonful of sugar that makes the former's confessional rhymes go down a little smoother. In bleak bars cut with ironic self-deprecation, Dust gives listeners a full rundown of his personal failings – from his desperate need of validation from women, to his fear of commitment, to his abuse of liquor to numb the pain – ending the record by, well, ending it. It all adds up to a record that's both intriguing and kinda worrying. I can only hope the Booth response to this joint elevates the duo's mood – but that's for y'all to decide. In any case, those who like what they're hearing can find more where this came from The Toby Sessions EP, released in early April.